ST. ANDREWS, NEW BRUNSWICK – South Africa is sending three of the top 100 amateur players in the world to compete in the Barrett Amateur Championship this summer.

The team is Jacques Blaauw, Dylan Frittelli, and Cameron Johnston, who is fifth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). Blaauw is 61st and Frittelli is 91st.
South African Golf Association president Neale Kunhardt said Johnston was selected on the basis of his current form. Johnston, 37, has recently recorded wins in the South African Mid-Amateur Championship, the Cape Province Open, and the 72-hole Western Province Open Qualifier.

Blaauw, 22, has played in four stroke play competitions, making two cuts, his best finish being fifth place in the Welsh Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship.Frittelli, 18, is the current South African Boys U18 Champion, as well as the nation’s top ranked amateur golfer. Frittelli will be looking for a good finish in order to secure himself a spot in the South African Golf Association’s three man World Amateur Team Championship team, which should be announced not long after the conclusion of the Barrett Amateur.The Barrett Amateur, Canada’s top ranked amateur golf tournament, is a 54-hole stroke play competition, which takes place Aug. 2-4 in St. Andrews, NB.

New Brunswick Golf Association Executive Director Pierre Arsenault said the South African players can expect to compete against a very talented field of top amateurs on a championship course, the Fairmont Algonquin, at the Barrett Amateur this summer.

“The South Africans should be among the best in the championship, but there are many players who will challenge them for the title.”
These challengers include top international players from Argentina, Urguguay, Honduras, United States, and Canada.

South Africa sent three players to the Barrett Amateur in 2007. They finished: Johan DuBuisson (T3rd), Louis DeJager (T7th) and Ruan Both (T16th). DeJager was the 2007 South African Amateur Champion, and has since started his professional career.

About the Barrett Amateur
In 2007, the Barrett made its debut as a counting event on both the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) and Golfweek’s Scratch Players World Amateur Rankings (SPWAR). The Barrett finished the year as the highest ranked Canadian event on the WAGR. The tournament takes place Aug 2-4 in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The champion of the Barrett Amateur will receive an exemption into the 2008 Canadian Amateur.